Process for manufacturing felt hats



ations.

Patented July 23, 1943 PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING FELT HATS 7 Alfred E.Hodshon, Bucks County, Pa., assignor to John B. Stetson Company,Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania N Drawing. ApplicationJuly 10, 1943,

Serial No. 494,267

' 6 Claims.

In the manufacture of fur felt hats, the hat body is today passedthrough many separate oper- Some of these operations which used to bedone entirely by hand are now done in whole or in part by machinery,although the best grade of hats still have many of the operationscarried on by hand processes.

The hat-bat is first formed by a process'of blowing and by vacuumdrawing fibers of natural fur or wool or manufactured fibers, or acombination of them onto a perforated cone. These fibers forming a batare then moistened so that the bat may be handled and removed from thecone. The bat so-formed is then subjected to scalding water and at firstgentle, then vigorous steps are general even where fur does notpredominate in the hat body. I

Where furpredominates, the body thus dried and stiffened is then rewetand the tip or crown is pulled out, then the brim is pulled out, bothsteps being done by suitable machines designed for those purposes. Thebody is then given its first locking, which is a general shapingoperation done with an expanding metal block inside the crown and doesnot reduce the body to final hat size or shape. In practice thisoperation always leaves the brim flat. dried and given its initialpouncing, which removes the rough outer surface of the felted body.

All the above steps take place in what is known as the back shop, andthe body then goes to the front shop, where it is blocked to finalshape, the crown is ironed, then finished, which involves surfacetreatment with fine sandpaper or the like and sometimes heated pads,then the brim is ironed, then curled, then flanged or shaped, thenfinished. Then'the brim is rounded, or cut-01f, the hat is then trimmed,sweat leather and crown lining placed in and outer band placed on. Thenthe brim is given a final flanging or shaping. The body is of coursedyed in the back shop, and the exact sequence of the operations is attimes varied and some operations are added and others omitted, most ofthese operations have special machines and each requires a separateoperative.

, The objects of the present invention are, to

The body is then I produce a predominantly fur felt hat that willretaining, hat. These and other objects and advantages of the inventionwill appear from the following description. This application is acontinuation in part of my former application of the same title filedDecember 29, 1941, Serial Number 424,787. r T

In carrying out this invention, the hat is formed, dyed, sized andstacked, dried and stiffened, as in the usual process, then the body isthoroughly rewet, and the tip and brim are pulled out, but instead ofthe initial blocking in the back shop, the body is pressed in a moldonce and for all, to final size and shape, both crown and brim. Underthe former process, the pulling and first blocking were not to finalsize, shrinking and further blocking and pressing were required, so thatthe body had first to be pulled beyond its desired I size, then broughtback to it, 'whichsometimes left weak or thin sections or hands in thetip, or crown, and the brim. Drying and rewetting before pulling may beomitted.

Since by the new process, pulling and pressing is done initially tofinal size, slightly less material may be placed in the original bat.

In the former practice the brim was initially blocked and pressed fiat,then in the later treatment in the front shop, it was given its finalcurl and shape. By this practice, the brim. was dried in this flatposition and it naturally tended to return to it, regardless ofthesuccessive treatments; after these treatments it therefore tended togutter and pucker. By this invention, while a wet, while still in activefelting operation and while not over stretched, it is given it finalshape line will not change because in manufacture it has always been inone place and there is no tendency to resume a former location and thereis no weakened portion on either side of the line.

In the former practice, the pulling and early blocking so overstretchedthe hat that the elasticity of the felt was impaired, whereas, in theprocess of this invention the felt is at no time overstretched and thefibers remain open, dispersed, not compacted, until the finalcompression takes place in the press. Consequently ease of feltingcontinues until final drying and shaping, so that a firm, completelyfelted hat is produced and the felting is to the final shape as fixed bythe press, rather than the late blocking or pressing overcoming apreviously set size and shape as in the former practice,

The following steps, after this pressing while the body is wet, are muchlike the steps previously followed in the front shop, except thatseveral are now omitted entirely. The blocking in the front shop isomitted, so is the crown ironing, the brim ironing, the brim curling andthe initial and final brim fianging. Omitting the 'machines andoperatives for them from the process saves very considerable in the costof manufacture and enables a better hat to be produced at less expense.

The pressing in the early stage, while the body is wet, may be done on aconventional pressing machine, which has a heated die or mold comprisinga cavity for the crown and a support for the brim of the final desiredhat configuration. Such machines are generally illustrated in Cumingpatents No. 2,064,824 and 2,087,798 and Cipriano Patent No. 2,091,429.Fur hats have usually been placed in these machines to reshapen them,and at all times heretofore, after the body has been blocked and dried.According to this invention, into the crown cavity and on the brimsupport the wet, pulled body is placed in a, free floating, position. 'Asaddle'is then placed inside the crown and over the brim and a rubberdiaphragm having protruding portion and asomewhat flattened portionaround it is then brought down upon the saddle, the protruding portionfitting into the body crown. Steam, air or water pressure is thenexerted on the other side of the diaphragm and the hat body is forcedinto complete contact with the form. The heat turns the moisture in thehat body to steam. Preferably from 50 to 150 pounds pressure is appliedto the hat and the die is heated to around 200 to 350 Fahrenheit, thepreferred temperature being 270, although it will of course beunderstood that both the pressure and temperature may be varied withinWide limits without departing from the invention.

The hat when removed from the press is the desired final size and shapeand being thin, due to wet pressing, and nearly dry, it will completelydry without further shrinking. It is smooth on its outer surface becausethat side is next to the mold. All lumps and uneven portions are forcedto the inside. Therefore, wet pressed hats pounce more evenly and showless imperfections than wet blocked hats, in which the-pressure isapplied inside the hat without any outside mold to press against, thusallowing all lumps and uneven portions to protrude to the outside of thehat. These wet blocked hats, when pounced, show up uneven incolor, dueto the fact that the high spots have to be cut more than the low spotsin order to obtain a smooth surface. "The wet pressed body produced bythis invention has no weak or thin spots because it has never beenstretched beyond its final size and it conforms readily to the moldbecause its fibers are open, dispersed, not compressed, up until thefinal pressing out and drying out of moisture in the I press.- Becauseit is wet when placed in the press,

it continues to felt until dry, so it has no full or wrinkling spots.The felt is tight and firm, not a false felt as is obtained by drypressing. The felt is also resilient because it has never beenoverstretched or dried under compression to any but its final position,both in its fibers as well as its outward configuration. better thanhats made by the old hand methods, there is uniformity of thickness andweight, there is this same uniformity of color and finish, the hatretains its shape better and longer, as well as its finish. The feel ofthe hat to the hand is like that given by the-finest of furs.

Substantially the same results described in the preceding paragraphwould be obtained by interrupting the pressing process while the hat isstill in a moist condition and before it has been fully compressed andremoving it from the p ess and letting it dry. The hat if desired maythen be pounced. At a later time, when it is known precisely the finalshape that it is desired the hat shall have, it is steamedand againplaced in the press for final shaping, compressing and drying.Interrupting the pressing process in this manner is sometimes desirablein the manufactur of hats in large quantities when quite a numberarekeptin stock by the manufacturer awaiting lfinal orders. The orders may befilled from the stock on hand with substantially the same economy andimprovement in the hat body as though the pressing were carried throughto completion in a single operation.

I claim: 1. The process of manufacturing felted predominantly fur fiberhats comprising forminga wet, felted hat body with crown and ,brimshrunkento the desired size for pressing and while the body is wet-andthe fibers. of the body are still in their original open andinterlocking felting condition, placing the same in a freely mobileposition into the mold of a die-press and die-pressing the same tosubstantially the final size andshape and to shrinkandharden the sameand to shrink andpermanentlylockthe fibers together.

2. The process of manufacturing felted predominantly fur fiber "hatscomprising forming a feltable hat bat, wetting and shrinking the sameforming the crown and brim, and while wetand the fibers are stilldispersed, placing the hat in a freely mobile position into the mold of.a diepress and die-pressing thesame to substantially final size andshape and applying heat thereto to facilitate felting, formlngandhardening and to permanently interlock the fibers together.

:rhThe process of manufacturing felted predominantly fur fiber hatscomprising forming a It holds its shape wet, shrunken and felted hatbody with crown and brim of the desired size for pressing and while wetand uncompressed when placed in the mold, and the fibers are stilldispersed, placing the hat in a freely mobile position into the mold ofa diepress and compressing the same to substantially final size andshape to set the crown and brim thereof under a pressure and temperaturesubstantially to dry the same and to shrink and permanently interlockthe fibers together.

5. In the manufacture of felted predominantly fur fiber hats, the methodwhich includes the steps of wetting, shrinking, and felting the hat batto final size for pressing, forming thereon the crown and brim and whilewet and the fibers dispersed, placing the hat in a freely mobileposition into the mold of a die-press and compressing the same tosubstantially final size and shape, and to 6 shrink and permanentlyinterlock the fibers together, the compressing of the press being thefirst compressing to which the hat is subjected.

6. In the manufacture of felted predominantly fur fiber hats the methodwhich consists in forming the hat bat and wetting, shrinking and feltingthe same to final size for pressing, forming thereon the crown and brimand while wet and the fibers are open and dispersed, placing the hat ina freely mobile position into the mold of a diepress and compressing thehat under heat and ressure to final size and set, and, to shrink andpermanently interlock the fibers together, and thereafter completing themanufacture by pouncing, finishing the crown and brim, rounding the brimand trimming the hat.

ALFRED E. HODSHON.

